AirHistory.net Privacy & Cookie Policy

Effective Date: 7 May 2018

Policy Version: 1.03 - Updated 20 December 2018

This Privacy & Cookie Policy tells you what personal information we may collect from you, how and why we collect it, how we protect it, and how you can access and change it. It also explains your rights in respect to your personal information.

AirHistory.net takes your privacy very seriously and adheres to the privacy laws of the European Union, which are currently the strictest in the world. We make only safe and ethical use of the information you provide to us.
Based on this principle we collect as little information as possible in order to offer you better services on the AirHistory.net website. By visiting our website, registering for a user account or using any of our services, you are accepting to comply with this privacy policy.

Complete details on each type of personal information collected are provided below or by specific explanation texts displayed before the data collection takes place. The personal information may be freely provided by the user, or, in case of anonymous usage data, collected automatically when using this website.

Users are responsible for any third party personal information obtained, published or shared through AirHistory.net (e.g. in the captions of the photos) and confirm that they have the third party's consent to provide the data.

This Privacy & Cookie Policy covers the following:

What is AirHistory.net

Which personal information we collect, and why

Who can register for a user account

How we use your personal information, and who has access to it

How you can access, change or delete your personal information

Where we store your personal information and how we protect it

Which third-party services we make use of

What are cookies and why and how we use them

How you can contact us about this Privacy & Cookie Policy

What is AirHistory.net?

AirHistory.net is an independent and privately-run historical aviation photo database website, based in The Netherlands. The website is created by and for enthusiasts and researchers, with the primary goal and purpose to document aviation history in its widest sense.

Which personal information do we collect, and why?

The types of personal information that AirHistory.net collects are: photographer display name, username and one or more email addresses.
This data is collected to allow AirHistory.net to provide its services.
With regard to collecting personal information, AirHistory.net distinguishes between:

Registered users
In order to upload photos to the AirHistory.net website you must become a registered user, by creating a user account. Your user account will allow you to log in to the site, access your user account settings and website preferences, and upload photos.
For these registered users, we require only very limited personal personal information, essential for the operation of the AirHistory.net website: logging in to your account, properly displaying the photos you upload and communications with you about the status of your photos and about important website developments. The only information collected for this purpose are your email address, a photographer display name, and a login name with a password.
All information requested by AirHistory.net while creating a user account is mandatory. Without it, it is impossible for AirHistory.net to provide its services. The information is kept for the time necessary to provide the service requested by the user.

Non-Registered users
For non-registered users, AirHistory.net does not collect any personal information.

In addition to the above, obfuscated (anonymised) data may be collected by AirHistory.net, or by third parties on behalf of AirHistory.net, for analytical purposes. This data is collected for the following purposes: data traffic optimisation, distribution and administration, infrastructure and security monitoring, error analysis, registration and authentication, and SPAM protection.
For more information, please see the What are cookies and why and how do we use them and Which third-party services do we make use of sections below.

Who can register for a user account?

Anyone at the age of 16 or older can register for an AirHistory.net user account. If we are notified that we have collected data from a child under the age of 16, we will delete that information as quickly as reasonably possible. Consequently, AirHistory.net does not specifically collect personal information from children.

How do we use your personal information, and who has access to it?

If you are a registered user, AirHistory.net needs your email address, a photographer display name, and a login name with a password. This information is used as follows:

Email address
We use your email address for the following purposes:

To communicate with you about the status of your uploaded photos, their data, or about any other subject relating your user account at AirHistory.net and your use of the website. For this reason, the AirHistory.net staff has access to your email address.

To inform you about important developments on the AirHistory.net website. This usually involves sending emails to all registered users of the site, for which we may make use of a third party. For more information, see the Which third-party services do we make use of section below.

If in your user account settings you have enabled the display of a Contact link in the captions of your photos, we will forward the messages from users who use that link to your email address. AirHistory.net will not disclose your email address to anyone who contacts you in this or any other manner. They will not know your email address until you reply to them.

To send you the AirHistory.net newsletter. This is optional, and we will only send you the newsletter if you have subscribed to it on our website. Each newsletter you receive will have an unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email.
The newsletter is sent to many registered users, and for this we may make use of a third party. For more information, see the Which third-party services do we make use of section below.

AirHistory.net will not use your email address for any other purpose, or disclose it to anyone other than AirHistory.net staff, unless we must do so to meet any regulation, legal process, applicable law, or enforceable governmental request.

Photographer display name
You can choose your photographer display name freely. The name may be your real name if you choose to disclose it, but this is not a requirement. You are free to choose an alias instead.
Your chosen photographer display name will be displayed in the copyright bar below your photos, and it will be shown in the captions of your photos. This means that this name is public information, visible to anyone visiting the AirHistory.net website. For this reason you may want to use an alias instead of your real name. We will treat all Photographer display names as aliases.

Login name with password
You can choose your login name and password freely. The name may be your real name if you choose to disclose it, but this is not a requirement. You are free to choose an alias instead.
Your login name will be used to log in to the site, using a password also of your own choosing. When you are logged in, your login name will be displayed in the top menu bar, but only you will be able to see it.

For more information on how obfuscated (anonymised) usage data may be used by our third parties, please see the What are cookies and why and how do we use them and Which third-party services do we make use of sections below.

How can you access, change or delete your personal information?

In your user account settings you can access and change your login name, your email address, and your password.
Depending on the number of photos associated with your account, changing your photographer display name may be a complicated process, since all your uploaded photos have been physically altered to show this name, for your copyright protection. If you want to change your photographer display name, please contact the AirHistory.net Support staff using the Contact entry in the About menu.
You can request AirHistory.net to delete your account, in which case the information and all associated photos along with their data will be permanently removed from all AirHistory.net's databases. However, it is strongly preferred that you allow your account to remain dormant so your photos remain part of the database. That way they remain accessible to researchers and other users who have an interest in your photos. If you allow your uploaded photos to remain online but would like your personal information to be removed from our databases, this can be accomplished by changing your photographer display name to an alias and removing your email address from our databases. Our Support staff can assist you to accomplish this. To submit such a request, please contact the AirHistory.net Support staff using the Contact entry in the About menu.

Where is your personal information stored and how do we protect it?

The information you have given us is stored in the AirHistory.net database, which is located on webservers in The Netherlands. We will ensure that this database is secure and can only be accessed by a limited number of authorised people.
We are using SSL (HTTPS) to secure all communications between our servers and your web browser, and also between our servers and those of all third parties we may make use of.

Your email address and password are not stored in plain text but are encrypted using strong encryption and hashing algorithms specifically designed for this purpose, to ensure protection against unauthorised access to your personal information.
When we need it to communicate with you, your email address can be decrypted using a decryption key. This key is known only to AirHistory.net and will never be revealed to any third party.
Your password cannot be decrypted and is therefore not available to anyone, including the entire AirHistory.net staff.

To protect your security and that of the AirHistory.net website, we strongly urge you to protect the password you have for our website and to not share it with anyone, including AirHistory.net staff. As explained above, our staff does not have access to your password.
You should always log out of our website when you finish using it, especially if you are sharing or using a computer in a public place.
If you need more detailed information about our data protection policies, please contact the AirHistory.net Support staff using the Contact link in the About menu.

What are cookies and why and how do we use them?

The AirHistory.net website uses cookies. A cookie is a small text file that may be saved on your computer or mobile device when you access our site. Cookies are commonly used to identify individual settings and help to realize special user functions necessary to operate the website. As such they greatly improve your browsing experience on our site. Cookies have become an industry standard, and nowadays almost all websites use them.
Most web browsers can be set to disable the use of cookies. However, if you disable cookies for AirHistory.net, you may not be able to access features on our website correctly or at all. For more information about cookies and instructions on how to adjust your browser settings to accept, delete or reject cookies, see the allaboutcookies.org website.
By agreeing to accept our use of cookies, you are giving us, and any third party we may make use of, permission to store and access some or all of the cookies described below on your computer.

Many types of cookies exist. AirHistory.net only uses the following types of cookies:

Strictly necessary cookies (session cookies)
These are cookies which are necessary for the proper and secure operation of the AirHistory.net website, such as moving around the website, displaying content, checking the validity and safety of your browsing session, maintaining multi-page search results, remembering values from the previous upload, accessing secured parts of the website, and other functions. These cookies are non-persistent, which means they are deleted from your computer or mobile device when you close your browser window.By using our website, you consent to the use of these strictly necessary cookies.

Analytical cookies
These are third-party cookies for website traffic analytics and optimization. Data gathered in this manner helps us to understand website usage and improve our website and its efficiency, thereby reducing operation costs.These cookies only store obfuscated (anonymised) data.
More information about these analytical cookies can be found in the Google Analytics section under the Which third-party services do we make use of section below.By using our website, you consent to the use of these analytical cookies.

Persistent cookies
These cookies are stored on your computer or mobile device between browser sessions for a limited time. AirHistory.net uses one persistent cookie. It remembers your login status when you revisit the website and will delete if you do not log on again within 10 days. This cookie does not hold any personal information and will be stored only if you tick the "Keep me logged in on this device" checkbox when you log in. If you do not want us to store this persistent cookie on your computer, you should not tick the "Keep me logged in on this device" checkbox when logging in.
Third parties we may make use of may use other persistent cookies. For more information please see the Which third-party services do we make use of section below.

Note: AirHistory.net does not use any advertising, social media or tracking cookies.

The two cookies AirHistory.net uses are named as follows:

Cookie Name

Expiration Time

Description

AHSESSID

Browsing session

Used to check the validity and safety of your browsing session, maintaining multi-page search results and accessing secured parts of the website.

AH_KeepLogin

10 days

Used to remember your login status.

More information about the cookies used by Google, Google reCAPTCHA and Google Analytics can be found on their website here: How Google uses cookies.

Which third-party services do we make use of?

AirHistory.net makes use of the following services supplied by third parties:

Google Analytics:
Our website uses Google Analytics, a web traffic analytics tool which transmits general website traffic and usage data to Google servers in the United States. Google Analytics complies with the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the US Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use and retention of personal information from European Union member countries, and can therefore lawfully receive data from the European Union.
Also, AirHistory.net has entered into a Data Processing Agreement with Google, to ensure that the privacy of our users is protected in accordance with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Google Analytics uses cookies (see above for more information), which only contain obfuscated (anonymised) data about the visitors of the AirHistory.net website. We do not share any identifiable data with Google Analytics, and Google cannot identify individual users or link your IP address to other data held by any other Google service.
AirHistory.net uses the reports generated by Google Analytics to get a real-time insight into exactly how the website is being used and how users in general find our site. This knowledge enables us to improve the website in areas where it matters, increase website efficiency, reduce costs, and improve your overall browsing experience at AirHistory.net.
You can prevent Google Analytics collection of your data by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, which can be downloaded from the Google website at: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/

Google reCAPTCHA:
Our website uses Google reCAPTCHA, a tool to protect you against spamming and other unwanted email messages. This tool only transmits non-personal data to Google servers in the United States.
Google reCAPTCHA uses cookies (see above for more information). These cookies contain no personal data.

LaPosta:
Our website uses LaPosta, a service which allows us to send emails to all registered AirHistory.net users efficiently. For this reason we must share your email address with LaPosta, which will be stored on their servers located in The Netherlands. Because LaPosta is located in the European Union, they are subject to the EU's very strict General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
AirHistory.net has entered into a Data Processing Agreement with LaPosta, to ensure that the privacy of our users is protected in accordance with EU legislation.
LaPosta guarantees that your email address will never be made available to third parties, and that it will not be used for any purpose other than to send you emails on behalf of AirHistory.net.

How you can contact us about this Privacy & Cookie Policy and about other issues?

If you have questions or remarks about this Privacy & Cookie Policy, or about other issues, please contact the AirHistory.net Support staff using the Contact entry in the About menu.

Changes to this Privacy & Cookie Policy

AirHistory.net reserves the right to amend this Privacy & Cookie Policy at any time. We will notify you a reasonable amount of time in advance of any modifications that will materially affect your privacy. Your continued use of AirHistory.net after the effective date of any such modifications means that you agree to the Policy as modified.
For modifications to this Privacy & Cookie Policy that we need to make to meet security, safety, legal or regulatory requirements, we may not be able to notify you in advance but we will let you know as soon as practicable.